Gazette opinion: Start investing in Montana 4-year-olds

One way or another, we all pay for at-risk kids, either on the front end or we can pay a lot more for their failure.

On a chilly February morning, Yellowstone County’s top law enforcement officers held a press conference to urge support for crime prevention by investing in preschoolers.

Earlier this month when the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis hosted a webinar on workforce development, the focus was on early childhood development.

The economists and Montana lawmen have looked at the facts: What happens or doesn’t happen in the first few years of life is a strong predictor of whether a person will graduate from high school, become a teen parent, go to prison, get a good job, go on welfare and own a home.

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